Marketing with Your Database

1. Your Main Marketing Tool

1.1 A database can bring together all the marketing information in the business.

• Sources might include enquiries, customer recommendations, your sales, service and guarantee records, bought-in mailing lists, and results from your customer surveys.

1.2 It helps you focus and schedule your efforts.

• You can identify the most profitable segments of your market.
• You can concentrate resources on customers and prospects whose profiles are similar to your most profitable customers.
• You can schedule activities to contact customers regularly and at the right times.

1.3 It supports mailshots and telemarketing.

1.4 It can help you analyse your results and recognise what is working (see 6).